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Fall is a wonderful time of year: running and playing in the woods with our kids and dogs, making leaf piles and having leaf fights ... it’s really a fun time for families to be outside.

Fall is also the time when many are chasing woodcock and grouse, and hunting deer. Last year 70,000 hunters took to Vermont’s woods, with similar numbers in New Hampshire. Hunters come from all walks of life. They are your friends and neighbors, doctors and grocers, carpenters and moms. We share the woods for a few weeks, and with a little planning we can share the woods in peace.

Many people are concerned about walking during hunting season, fearing for their safety and that of their dogs. Accidents are exceedingly rare: The vast majority of hunters are careful, considerate, safe and ethical.

Most hunting activity is during the rifle deer season, under way now. Hunters are most active at dawn and dusk. Hunters wear blaze orange, which is also the best way for you and your dog to be seen! Blaze hats, bandanas and vests are available at many local stores. Stay away from white mittens and hats, which can be mistaken for the deer’s namesake white tail. A simple blaze bandana around your dog’s neck will make her stand out.

Hunting, like logging and farming, has a long heritage in our area. Hunters do not want to ruin your day; they work hard to not see you at all. With simple planning, we can share and enjoy the woods during hunting season as much as we do during the rest of the year.

Key points:

Keep pets in voice control or leashed.

Each person and pet should wear blaze orange.

Avoid brown and white clothing; these can be mistaken for deer.

Walk the woods in the middle of the day.

Use more popular areas; stay on the beaten path.

Share the woods; hunting season is just a few short weeks.

George Sandman

Norwich Regional Animal Hospital

November Is November, Not December

To the Editor:

As much as I love Christmas lights, I do not like them in November.

We have a holiday that’s called Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is in November.

Why don’t we honor November for Thanksgiving and nothing else — no excuses, ifs ands or buts?

I don’t need to see December until it’s here, nor do I need to see Christmas lights until Dec. 7.

Barbara Nielsen

White River Junction

Bradford Battles the Pinkos

To the Editor:

I salute the members of the Bradford Water and Sewer Commission for quietly discontinuing the fluoridation of its town’s water (“Bradford Stops Fluoridating Water Supply, Upsetting Dentists,” Nov. 16). While many will see its action as a rather mundane bit of budgetary prudence, some of us know the real truth: This action was a strike against the great international Communist conspiracy of water fluoridation.

This fluoride conspiracy was first identified by the John Birch Society, a misunderstood bastion of scholarship co-founded by the father of the Koch brothers. Over the decades, the society has tried to warn the populace about the debilitating effects of fluoride on the general population, particularly the young, but the Communists and their fellow travelers, most notably dentists, have suppressed all dissent and managed to poison a good portion of the country with this pernicious mineral. The results have been a general mental deterioration of a major portion of this country into a herd of needy takers. One need look no further than the recent re-election of a socialist non-American man as president to see how fluoride has wrecked this great nation.

I wish I could write more about what great heroes these commissioners are, but I need to get back to repairing my tinfoil hat so that it will be ready for my weekly conversation with my friends on Neptune.

Stephen D. Miller

Norwich

A Wise Decision in Bradford

To the Editor:

Hurray for Bradford! As you reported on Nov. 16, the town has decided to stop fluoridating its water supply. It is interesting to note that America remains stubborn in the face of worldwide, particularly European, nonacceptance of the benefits of water fluoridation. The rest of the world must know something to have eliminated this poisonous byproduct from the aluminum industry.

Inge Brown

Norwich

Let’s Have Three-Day Elections

To the Editor:

Another presidential election is history. About one half of the eligible voters did not vote. This should be a concern. Why does the event last only 12 hours? I propose that the election take place on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The votes are counted on Sunday and Monday and the results announced on Tuesday.

How many citizens stay home because they can’t or won’t stand in line for hours? Many people won’t stand in line for anything.

It is another mystery why a person can serve only two terms. Bill Clinton, who created a budget surplus, has been unemployed for the past 12 years. Yet U.S. senators can serve forever, and Supreme Court justices sit (or sleep) at work until they die.